The sky is clear, i mean not a cloud in the sky this evening, just blue and blue as far as you can see in any direction; as to God’s brilliance about His color – blue – it’s the color of the sky, ocean, sleep, and twilight; blue supposedly symbolizes the Virgin Mary, and a pure blue is the color of inspiration, sincerity and spirituality. It is often the chosen color by conservative people; blue is calming, which easily makes it a wonderful color for the sky, in your house, or even a good choice for pajamas. Dark blue speaks of truth and moderation. If i were to give someone a blue iris it means their friendship is very important to me. Wednesday’s color is blue. Wow, wasn’t God brilliant to create a visual treat such as blue sky and put it in the heart of man to need His vision.

There is a deep feeling of renewal these days seeing the grass starting to come alive, little buds on the trees, and the smell of warm days ahead in the wind. From here i can easily see the river, casual, deep and clear, moving slowly past us on its way to another place.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast of cool jazz and think-worthy conversation from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant.

This evening is devoted to Words Of Praise. i know this may seem strange to say, but when i was a boy my mother would add oats or bread crumbs to hamburger when she made meat loaf. It was filler used to make it larger than it was, similarly i felt like i used filler in my prayers to fill up space in order that my praise and prayer time would be larger than it was. i felt like i was just saying the same words of praise over and over. Father God, Father God, Father God this, Praise you Lord, Praise you Lord, Praise you Lord that, etc etc  …yea, me and all my repetitive terms and phrases. i slowly began to realize, what was once well meant praise was now just filler when i didn’t actually have anything to say. Sometimes i used my repetitive little phrases as place holders so others would know i was still speaking and to not butt in, like saying “uh, uh, uh” over and over till i thought of something else to say. Other times i told myself i was just being passionate, reasoning that, “It’s just the way i pray” without considering the mindlessness of my own mouth. i want all my words to have value, and if i’ve got nothing else to say, i need to learn that it’s ok to stop praying or praising. i’d like to have no useless filler in my mouth.

Actually though, no matter how i cut the mustard, the repetition was still filler for when i didn’t have anything to say…they were more products of my prayer momentum rather than anything of value. i began to wonder, how would my prayer life sound if i didn’t use any filler words and instead, cut to the chase with real heart words? i thought …. “you know, i don’t talk to anyone but God like this, why do i talk to Him with such chanting litany, as if He’s entertained by my “much speaking and repetition”?”

In my heart was a pressing urge to ask the Lord for new words. So, i went on a quest, starting with prayer, asking the Lord for more creative words, asking if He’d help me word-craft my prayers in order to be more effective. i felt like i had gotten stuck in the rut of just using phrases i’d heard at church or from other people, and i wanted to do a better job of expressing myself about the King of Everlasting. i went to digging through my Bible to see how the hero’s of our faith prayed. i figured it wasn’t like my prayers weren’t effective, but i wanted to be …more creative. Do you get where i’m coming from? As i studied how people of scripture prayed i noticed, it wasn’t recorded anywhere that they used any kind of repetitive phrases, they said what there was to say, and left it there, their prayers were good enough as they were and didn’t need to be embellished with repetition. i wanted to use inspired words to describe the landscape of Heaven, His heart, His intentions and the beauty of the everlasting love of God. This evening, i’d like to make a stab at giving us all other words to insert into our prayers. What’d ya’ think? Come go with me, let’s see where this goes.

Hold your ground and keep your peace.

James 5:16 “….The prayer of a person living right with God, possessing the rightness of character, is productive and is something powerful to be reckoned with.”

And with that in mind, i’d like to make a stab at some words of praise:

“You Lord are God, You are one and are three in the One; You are always God, i am always me and there is never a time i am You, and never a time You are me, although, You live in me and we go together, You are distinctly You, and i am distinctly me. Your name is clear and originally Yours. As our resounding and resonant Hope, You have sharp and recognizable ideas with well defined, unmistakable hopes and dreams; i am completely caught up in your clear and obvious purposes. i will never be the same, thank you Jesus. Your attributes make You and all You do recognizable and distinguishable – You are not hidden to the eyes of any who would look to see. Cause us to see you Lord.

Your love sweeps me from everlasting to everlasting, from the beyond of the beyond you have reached to us, having become the profound bridge between the finite and infinite; You built the blood bought bridge for us who are finite, to go across the asymptote, the untouchable line, to You, Jesus. You bridged the gap making it so we could touch the heart of Forever.

You invigorate me and set me on fire with passion and compassion about Jesus and the people of this world, believers and not, to have a heart to inspire the world around me to live restored, reconciled, and redeemed lives which will bring honor and glory to the name of Jesus.

You have made me, who was a twisted, deaf mute, to be an artful conversationalist, living to fulfill Your Word, no longer a betrayer and covenant breaker, for now i am an encourager of others in prayer, bringing home the lost, and building disciples. You, yourself, are my path, You are the Singing Light, the Brilliant Sky Who rains upon me, the Radiant Gift who lives in me in Splendor; i say loudly, let all the earth declare Jesus is our Living Poem who lifts the corners of our mouth, and the Light who poured Himself in a cup to refresh our thirsty hearts. Taste and see the Lord is Good, for He is good, and there is never a time He is not good. Lord, let your goodness go before me and after, like a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Bless Your great name, for You alone are worthy to be praised.

The sheer craftsmanship of the Lord is breathtaking, revealing a kind of artistry that has never been seen before by any, anywhere, anytime in history or the future of forever; He is the EverLord and OneKing; Praise You Jesus, i love Your clean lines of clear design, the interplay of light and dark; You offer a myriad of possibilities in a centimeter of space as a delight in structure, composition, and texture. i am awed by You God. There is indeed none like you.

i am inspired by the Lord’s play with perspectives, His jostling with angles, combining foreshortened, exterior scenes with larger, emotional interiors, setting my expectations of Him on it’s head so i see, and see again His multi-faceted marvels. “You, Lord, are the prince, originator, and end-all of multi-dimensional work in the true sense of the term. You are life in layered, split-images, resonating with multiple meanings — complementary, sometimes seemingly contradictory but never opposing. Brilliantly executed, unfailingly interesting. You alone, Lord God Almighty, set the course and mission of imagination, You frame our dreams and cause us to think of you like romantic poets; from You come the vision and words of praise. You answer my prayers for better words to praise you with by causing me to see the world new every morning through Your eyes, and i remain, every time, always, truly “wowed” by You in body, mind, and spirit, for all my breathing is before the Lord.”

“Your vision plays in me day and night, dreams and visions which are saturated with texture, the borders of your purposes are bursting with design themes and everything born of you explodes with this – heroic and repolarizing power. You alone Oh Lord of the Starfields are the artist and the art, being the perfect marriage of things seen and things dreamed. In Your presence i can’t help but fall face first to the ground. Oh my, Your inexorable and inescapable presence defines me, for all my days are before the Lord!”

“You call and we become. In Your call is the design and purpose given to whom so ever and what so ever you call. As you called the Light, it was, as you called the dark – it became, as You gave Adam the power to name the animals and whatever they were named they became their name, so you called me and i was, i am, and by the Blood of Jesus i ever shall be. By Your Love and wisdom the universe began and will end, for Your Love is merciful, necessary, relentless, determined and forever, and the qualities of Your persistent, wonderful love pursue me day and night, for goodness and mercy shall follow and apprehend me all the days of my life.”

All too often it seems we quickly run out of the few praise words that we have learned in church and revert back to the language of complaining, running down our list of wants, wishes, ideas, and repetitive words. We need to expand our praise vocabulary. i may not get it right in this program, but i’m trying, so please bear with me:

“Lord, you are for us, not against us. Don’t we know, You applaud us when we run, consoling us when we fall, and cheer us when we rise to try again. Your heart is towards us, never holding us who love You in contempt. You Lord are the strength in the deep roots of trees as you are the strength of my roots which run deep in you. Your creation is straight forward and built without forsaking the character traits that give us our individuality. Everything You have said and done is meant to communicate the opportunity open to all the universe – a glistening path home to You, the very path which was left behind by men, You framed with love and grace, swallowing up death and dying, and then rose up in resurrection that we would have life more abundantly. In sin all things pass away, and in You, all things are redeemed and made alive again. Lord…. we extend our hands to You, palms up, declaring the name of Jesus, the Word; our praise is our sacrifice, professing and confessing You, it is our entrance into Your presence. i confess, i have been delivered from the power of darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of the Son of Your love; i confess i am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me; i raise my hands and confess, my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus; i concede and declare, by the stripes of Jesus I am healed.

By Your name you stabilize me, never letting my mind lose it’s balance, in You is the miraculousness of existence and definition of form. No one can prevent me from carrying you in my heart where i go. No one can rob me of Your name; in You i always stand victorious. i never have to meet you in my sanctuary and then leave you behind when i go home; where ever You and i go, we make green grass grow, the rhythm of my heart always steps and breaths with You. You alone, oh Lord have given it to me to believe and Act. You have caused me to know You, and i have the promise of knowing You more. i can say with confidence i know God and He knows me. i know the kind of lyrics You like; i know what sounds become resplendent in your mind and i’ve felt your feet jump and whirl. Thank you Lord for the renewal of words of praise in me, for all my days are before the Lord.

You Lord have put Your words in my mouth, words that are the sharp edge of lightening and the soft middle of clouds, they are the patterns in the praise You have taught me how to articulate back to You. The glint in the eye of my God becomes the vision of truth in my heart, sprinkling the air with the effervescence of peace and the power of praise. Praise His Name, for i will never forget where i was, i will always and forever be taken over with Your dreams and frame of the Kingdom of Heaven, the dream which you imagined first in me. You gave me a dream, a night vision, and i saw You whirling under a soft bright rose that hung from an invisible stem in the sky. Then i saw You charging on a horse which was so white and oozed valiance; You stood in the stirrups and declared the charge with the voice of ages, cracking the universe; riding as the very definition of glory and fierce power, You were robed in light, with a brilliant white shirt, a vest of purest blue, and pants so red i thought they had been dipped in blood, and Your name was called “The Word Of God”.

The thunder of Your coming raged at the edge of the horizon with all of Heaven’s infinite army with You; then i heard someone say, “Behold the charge of the Light Brigade, led by The Light Of The World.” And there was rolling thunder, i can still see the rolling wave as it crackles across eternity.

So in my vision in the late night, i changed into my best clothes in hopes of joining in your dance, in hopes of riding with You in the Charge Of The Light Brigade in the Name of God Almighty. i couldn’t help but weep at the glory of Your charge from beyond the edges of the horizon. You are the EverLord, the Dancing King, the Singing Light. i saw you dancing near the roof of the world, calling for me to join You. i thought, Lord, i can’t get there unless You bring me to you, for i am thousands away it seems, and unless You bring to me to you, i can only be where i am seeing what You have given me to see. Draw me near to You, for You have unfurled my heart, healed my wounded wings, and called me to step high above this broken universe, finding my footing in your presence upon cosmic yellows, dazzling blues, blazing greens, and deepest purples, finding my rest in the warm breeze of your incomprehendible peace. You are a refuge for all the lost and hopeless, the aimless and crushed, the lonely and sad, all the “whomsoever’s” can come in to the harbor of peace in the city of refuge. The sun and planets are humbled at your rhyme and rhythm, your stride in stride… the stars and stones only wish they could move like You. You call them, and they sing on Your behalf. My mighty wonderful Jesus, all my days are before the Lord. Amen. Think about it.

Psalm 148, “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created.”

Tonight, i made a stab at new words, at least from me, of praise for our God and King. i apologize if my words fall short, it’s the best i could do.

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries.

i hope maybe you’ll try out some new words of praise in your prayer time. Think about your “filler words” and ask the Lord to give you new, creative words. i wonder, how would your prayers sound if you cut to the chase and left out the repetition? Would it be a less effective prayer, or would it be more effective when you left off the hype. Watch the vision, listen carefully, i bet it won’t be long until He begins to increase your spiritual vocabulary. Be strong and courageous, hold the line, and i’ll talk to you next time.